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Page 12, Thursday, March16, 1972, WHITBY FREE PRESS of inters to women The Radical Viewpoint - by Ed McCaughtrie Gardening for the indolent W e have d i s cussed laying down a mulch, and planting "companionably". Now we can talk about var ioàs plants that actual ly repel bugs. Some of t h em can be g r o w n in the house, or around the patio, or even in a balcomy window box. Some of the i r names are self explanatory, for example, "Feverfew". M o s t of t h ese companion plants are herbs or strong smelling plants. First and best of them ail is the Marigold, but don 1 t plant th-e f ancy hybrid. You can plant it throughout the garden. Marigold is a nematicide, that is it kills riematod es", which are small wire- Iike worms that ki il plant roots. Marigoids exude a s ub s t ance from their roots that rids the area of nematodes, andwill, if planted regulariy through- out the garden, keep-your garden free of this pest. Marigol d al so partiêul arly di scourages the Mexican beanbeetle, andnotonly is it good for your potat- o e s , tomatoes and beans, it adds colour to your vegetable garden. N e x t is b a s ii, sometimes called the 'royal' herb. Basil can be used in ail sorts of dishes for fi a v o u r ing, but i t also provides a wrap-,around protection for your tomato plant, preventing that na sty fellow, the tomato horn worm, from having fun. Basi 1 alsoseems to enhance the f lavour of the tomato. Another plant that repais the worm is Borage, w h i c h is a is o a companion plant to squash and strawberries. Gar l ic is a very good deterrent (did you ever stand i n front of someone on a streetcar who had eaten some ?). E spe c ially for roses and raspberries, a few cloves planted around the base will soon show their value in healthy growth and blooms. You will also d i s cover that garden cloves used in the kitchen are m u c h t a s t ier than the anaemic store bought variety. Rosemary should be planted among the cabbage an d b r u s s e 1 s p r outs and similar plants, which d e t e r t he cabbage moth, bean beet1e and c arrot- fly. T h e r e are many, many more of these plants, and as any person can see they have an advantage over the costly poison sprays with their dubious a f t e r e f f e c t s and potential threat to all living things. The prob lem with insects is that they have no P. R. men working for them, whilst the pesticide manufacturers have a multi-million dollar adver- tising campaign, which is sibsidized by the unwi1- ling taxpayer as a business expense. To hear these people talk, one would think that the only good bug is a dead bug. Unfortunately iltappears that the Department of Agri culture at ail 1evel s of Government in both Can- adaand the United States have been sold a story. Graduates from our agricultural colleges seem to be brainwashed by the same firms. They even pay for college bursaries. Little wonder that the or- ganic way of gardening is never told - it's never taught! On the American continent there are some 86, 0 0 0 species of insect, 76, 000 of these are bene- ficial to mankind. Unfortunately insect sprays do not know the good from the bad. For f r u it tr e e growers, there is "Tansy ", wh i c h is not a good iooking blonde, but a rather i a r ge perrennial herb, planted under fruit trees and around the cucumber patch. Tansy repels flying insects, Japanese beetles, striped cucym- ber beetie, squash bugs and ants. Que tog9 the F r Vhi is answered and advice offered Iening enthusiasts.by writing to imnts author'care of the Whitby r ess, P o s t O f fice Box 206, The Technical Approach -by Sid Morris Starting your garden indoors in i a s t w e ek's a r t icle we looked at starting ge r anlum cuttings in "Jiffy-7's". This week we w i Il I ook at the starting of flower and vegetable seeds. if you are going to start your annual flower or v e g e table seeds indoor s, you should fir st try to find some suitable containers. Th e ol d fashioned f i s h fi1at has almost gone, but these are very handy when starting large num- bers of seedlings. If you are using a small num- ber of s e e dl ings,- perhaps you might try using styrofoam coffee cupsor fibre boxes. In any case, w h i c h ever type of container you decide to use, m ak e sure the container is equipped with drain- age holes to prevent the build-up of water in the container, which could result in seeds rotting or the seediings being damaged by "damping-off", a fungus which thrives on seedlings growing in wet soif, or in poorly ventilated locations. It is important that the container is deep enough so it w on 't dry out quickly. The holes should be covered with either pieces of broken pottery or a layer of humus. A sol mixtureof equal parts loam, l eaf mold (or humus) and sand or perli te should be used to fil1 the flat. This m ixture should be sterilized to prevent damp-off. The home method would be to use chem- ANTIQUES Conti.ued from page 5 Nuts grew plentifully, butternut and black wal- nut were two of the local trees, al though the walnut tree became so popular as a furniture wood it is now nearly extinct. Nuts At one time settiers could locate a tree withir easy distance of home and pick a good quantity o' nuts in a short time. It is interesting that travel- lers in Ontario through the early settlements com- pi a i ned about the quality of the food available ir the larger settlements, although they all said the further into the country (presumably the further f r o m Yor k) the bet ter the food became, and the greater its variety. Nuts were something that could be stored easily, preparation time could be put off, and a chi Id w i th a hammer and a block of wood made an excellent nut cracker, if one discounted w a s te a nd t h e profi t in nutmeats, thât had to be paid to the nutcracker. It Is only when we begin to compare the equip- ment that was aval fable to our grandmothers with the modernk itchen that we can see how difficuit it mus t have been, and how much physical strength was required to do jobs that we can do by simply flipping a switch. Today Food no longer has to be canned at home, we canload our freezers with enough to see us through thewinter, if we wish, and have the job done in a day. We can make out a very good case for our val- u a b 1 e c ontributions to volunteer organi zations. Many of them would not exist at ail if women were stili chained ta Iran pots and unwieldy housekeep- i ng equipment. Sa many of the charitable groups operate on a s~iim budge t, that they coul d not pay a s ta ff to do the work that must be done, if people a re to rac iv e the assistance that makes their probln' 50mucheasier ta bear. Scouts and guids, Rd Crss, theçCancer Assciation Me al s -on-Wheels, White Cross visiting the in- m at es oaf homes and Lodges, giving a few hours a w e ek ta the churches, are ail communi ty ser- v ic es that were not being performed until women w ere able ta get out of their kitchens and make a contribution ta their communities that must add up ta thousands of dollars war th of volunteer labour yearly. GARDEN INO LADIES: ARE YOU IN FORM? Try our easy plan. 15 VISITS FOR ONLY SPECIAL ENDS SATURDAY, MAR. 18th *Must be used within 5 weeks. - On offer pet WHITBY lair Par PPlano 668-9011 It's no hassie to stoy in shape, or to shape up with our progres- p siv exercising pro- grams. OSHAWA Swiss Chalet Piaze 579-2231 MISS RENE FIGURE SALONS Ope Mon.-FrI. 9 to 9, Sot. 9 to 1 aus Stops et Door "qo 1w0/wzQ' icals to prevent this fungus, but follow the manu- f a c turer's instructions carefully, especiallv the wal ting period suggested before sowing the seeds. Youcouldsterilize the soit mix in your kitchen oven, but care must be taken not to burn the mix. Beprepared also to have anunpleasantodour as the s o i 1 is being s t e ril1iized. The mixture should be thoroughly heated to 180-200 degrees F. for half an hour with regular checks to make certain the soil isn't being burned. Over fi Il the flat and firm the soit around the edges to prevent 1lt from settliIng. Level and slightly firm theentire flat. Remove any excess soi so the level is approximately ½" below the top of the flat. You now have two choices for sowing your seeds. One method is broadcasting the seed over the soil surface. The other method is the making of rows in the soi surface. If you use the row method and youfindone end of the row developing signs of damp-off, you can remove the diseased portion of the row. One sign of damp-off is the appearance of healthy pl ants topplingover. Closer observation will show that the young seedling is damaged at the soi line. You shouldn't move these seedlings until the firsttrueleaves have developed fully. The trans- pIanted seedlings can be placed in fibre boxes or in pots so they can develop a good root system as well as develop a good leaf system. Make c e r t a i n you give the seedl ings as much light as possible as poor light will result in poor plants. When the weather breaks these transplants can behardened off so that theywill not receive a great shock, which might resul t in their death. This har- deningprocess toughens the plant.so it can adjust to t h e more adverse outside weather conditions. The steps to be taken in hardening is the placing of the transplants in.the out-of-doors in a sheltered location and bringing them into the porch or other cool places for the night. I n the weeks to come I will describe the steps to take in preparing your garden to receive the plants you have been taught to start now. mgireý